New Dementia Treatments Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Spellar
Main Page: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Spellar's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
New Dementia Treatments
Lord Spellar Excerpts(11 months, 1 week ago)
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John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)
I congratulate the right hon. Member on securing this important debate. Is there not an enormously important fourth strand of this: effective management of the condition and the various aids, adaptations and regimes that enable people to continue to function longer, for the benefit of themselves, their families and wider society?
Damian Green
The right hon. Gentleman is completely right. There are new management techniques. I did not want to extend the debate too widely, but I am struck by the way that technology—not cutting-edge technology but technology available to all of us, such as smart speakers—can remind people that they need to take a red pill at 11 o’clock or remind relatives that the fridge has not been opened for five hours, meaning that someone has forgotten to take out their lunch. It can help with all those kinds of day-to-day issues and, if used properly, enable people to live in their own homes for longer, even if they are suffering this disease. I agree that that is a very important potential set of breakthroughs.